Freedom From Failure
by Cheesymuffins
Summary: After the incident at Ba Sing Se, Aang realizes he needs a firebending teacher. Who better than the Dragon of the West? Zuko wants a second chance, Katara wants peace, and Sokka wants...more cactus juice? Zutara in later chapters
1. So much for Stealth

Freedom from Failure

I had gone back and edited alot after finding many errors. So enjoy this new and improved Freedom from Failure.

I don't own Avatar: The last Airbender. There, simple and short.

* * *

Katara crept along the walls of the Earth King's palace, checking around the corner for any Dai Li agents. Everything had been going smoothly so far. She had managed to get inside the palace walls using her waterbending to rise herself onto a windowsill. The bison whistle was tucked inside her robes to call Appa to get her and her emancipated prisoner as far away from Ba Sing Se as possible. She was dressed completely in black so she blended with the shadows. It was a vital part of her mission that they remained as quiet and stealthy as possible-

"BOSCO!! Don't eat that tapestry, we're trying to be sneaky!"

Katara's left eye twitched

So much for stealth...

Of course Sokka couldn't come to help her with her little mission. He was on his way to Chameleon Bay to find their father and to plan an attack the Fire Nation. Aang was healing in the Eastern Air Temple , drinking something he described as onion and banana juice and Toph was with him incase of any trouble. And Katara? She was risking her life to go save Iroh from the evil clutches of the Fire Nation brats. Why? So Iroh could consider maybe teaching Aang to firebend if the retired general felt like it.

Katara was going to make sure Iroh felt like it

The Earth King tripped on his black robes as he rounded the corner. Katara rubbed her temples and reminded herself of her little plan. Go in. Get the old guy. Get out.

Simple

Katara whirled around when she heard something had crashed behind her. The Earth King was standing over a broken vase and was chastising his bear quietly. Katara was about to yell something obscene when she heard guards running in their general direction. She looked around for something to hide in and found a door. She quickly pulled the king and his bear into the room.

"Who did this?" She heard the guard say from just behind the door.

"It was probably a hamster-mouse, clean it up and let's go, our shift is almost over."

Katara heard the sound of glass being thrown and the sound of grumbling. The guards left, talking about getting some cactus juice later.

Katara looked around the room they were in. The walls were lined with racks and racks of clothing. It looked to be a storage area for the clothing of the people who helped around the palace.

The king gazed at the needle and thread case in one corner of the room. "I always wondered what was in this room. I bet I could make Bosco a disguise in case we get caught."

Katara smiled behind the cloth that hid the bottom half of her face. "That's a great idea your Highness, why don't you and Bosco do that while I go find Iroh?"

His Highness smiled and petted Bosco. "All right, I'll get started right away. You know its been a while since I've used a needle." The bear groaned in reply.

"Right, right." Katara rolled her eyes as she closed the door. That was two distractions out of the way.

Iroh sipped his tea as he watched the gloomy walls of his cell. Zuko made sure Iroh was given tea everyday, but he never visited his uncle. Not once. Which was good for Iroh; he wasn't sure if he could face his nephew now.

There was no way to describe how betrayed Iroh felt, yet there was still a part of him that still hoped that this was all part of a plan Zuko had concocted, but Iroh wasn't stupid. He knew his nephew wasn't _that_ clever. He smiled sadly; he thought Zuko had changed for the better, but the Dragon of the West must have gone senile to think anything would have changed in Zuko.

He had been there for two weeks, Azula had came the day before and told Iroh that his dear brother, the fire lord Ozai, would be coming in a week to Ba Sing Se to "visit" him and his nephew. There was no doubt in Iroh's old mind that Ozai would not take his son back as heir to the throne as Zuko thought he would, but instead probably finish off both his son and his brother in one swift blow.

Iroh looked at the shackles that attached him to the wall. It was the first time in his life that tea, even Ginseng tea, did not bring him peace in mind and heart.

Suddenly, Iroh heard someone fidgeting with the lock to his cell. It was way too late for Azula to come to insult him and it was way past supper time.

The small light of hope within him brightened slightly as a black clad hand slowly opened the door to his cell.

After leaving the Earth King and his bear in the safety of the dressing room, Katara wondered around the palace looking for the prison cells.

"Did he say left or right at the huge ostrich horse statue?" She whispered, annoyed. She looked at the crumbled piece of paper that had directions to the dungeons on it and decided the chicken-pig scratch useless. The king's actual purpose was to point her in the right direction, but he was now some random room in some random hallway in some random direction in the palace. She decided with a sigh that she was lost.

Then she saw three Dai Li agents round the corner of the hall she was in. She ducked behind a huge vase and thanked Yue they were distracted and didn't see her. As they walked into another room, another smaller agent emerged from the hallway they just exited, probably trying to look for them. He was very short and looked quite young, probably a little older than Katara herself.

Katara smiled at her window of opportunity as he came running toward her.

She gathered water from her pouch and froze the floor of which the agent ran on and he slipped. Before he could yell out, Katara semi-caught him and froze his mouth shut. She formed a small ice dagger and held it to his throat.

"Okay, here's the deal, you show me where you are keeping General Iroh, and I'll let you go. Okay?" It's not that she _liked_ threatening people, but if she wanted to find Iroh fast and easy, this was the way she had to do it.

The man's eyes widened, and he nodded. Katara unfroze the floor and helped him up; she then told him quietly to start walking as she held the dagger on the back of his neck. He led her through several hallways, ducking out of sight when Dai Li agents appeared. After what seemed like a few hours, they came to a set of stairs leading downward.

"This leads to the dungeons? To Iroh?" She asked.

The man nodded, still unable to speak.

"Okay, thank you, and I'm sorry for this." She then knocked him out with a block of and drug him into a broom closet and sealed the lock on the door with ice.

She walked down the stairs and looked around the corner. There were three Dai Li agents guarding a door, Iroh's door.

Katara thought hard. If she would have just charged into battle, the earthbenders would have easily overcomed her and she would be trapped as well.

Katara thought long and hard about her plan before putting it into action. She was going to throw a rock at guard #1. Then, in is tired state, he was going to accuse guard #2 of tossing the pebble, and they would start bickering. Guard #3 would then get angry at guards #1 and #2, and he would soon join in. Then, they would fight, ending with them all unconscious, and Katara free to save Iroh. It was a brilliant plan that would make Sokka proud.

She looked at the guards again, ready with her pebble, when she found something incredible.

They were asleep.

So much for her brilliant plan...

But, Katara worked with it and slowly and very carefully crept towards the guards. Katara moved her hand inch by inch toward the keys on the guard's belt. She could hear the slow breathing of the guard in front of her. Within five minutes, she had the keys and began as quietly as she could to unlock the door.

The door creaked open. Katara saw Iroh looking at her in surprise. She also noted the shackles on his ankles and wrists. She closed the door after her.

This would take a while.

* * *

A/N

Yay chapter 1 done!

Stupid Zuko. Betraying his uncle like that. For shame dear Zuzu, for shame. Although it would be great, I don't think betraying his uncle was part of some elaborate scheme. Zuko's not that clever to come up with something like that on the spot. I'm sorry. BUT! Zuko and Katara did have that little back glance thing that went on.

After the hatred and spite that spewed from within my soul, I laughed my ass off. Why? Because here we zutarians were, thinking that Zuko and Katara would be stuck in the cave for about the whole episode and then they were actually in there for what, five, ten minutes tops? And then before the episodes, everyone was preparing for shipping battles and it turns out. No one won. The writers must be having fun.


	2. Does this dress make me look fat?

Hi again, heres another chapter of Freedom from Failure. I'd like to thank all of my reviewers and all of those who offered to edit my work. At the moment I have someone editing my chapters, but for some reason he/she hasn't replied back with the edited work so I'm just going to post it anyway and if theres any errors, then oh well, I'll fix them later.

* * *

Zuko stood on his balcony looking over the city as it slept. He hadn't been sleeping well since the day he had betrayed his uncle. Even though he never visited Iroh, he made sure the retired general was given his tea everyday. Zuko wasn't ready to face him, just not yet anyway. Zuko believed he made the right choice by going against his uncle's wishes, but there were times when he wasn't so sure.

That morning, for example

Zuko was eating with his sister and her friends when a messenger bird flew in. The red crested bird landed next to Azula; they all recognized it instantly as their father's royal messenger hawk.

"News from Father?" Zuko asked from the other end of the table. Everyone looked up at Azula, waiting for her to speak.

After several minutes, Azula looked up from the parchment and smiled. "Father is coming in a week to inspect his new city . He knows of what you did Zuko and he says he is very proud."

Zuko was shocked to say the least. "How did he…"

"I sent word to him a few days ago about how you betrayed uncle and helped take down the Avatar. His reply says he is looking forward to seeing us," Azula placed her hand on Zuko's shoulder. "Both of us." She walked back to her end of the table and continued eating.

Zuko sat in silence, soaking up the knowledge that was just bestowed upon him.

"Wow, won't it be great to see your dad again Zuko?" Ty Lee said from her seat at Azula's left. "It'll be just like old times won't it?"

Zuko had just continued eating this breakfast. "Just like old times…"

The news of his father returning was too much to take in. Zuko would finally see the face of the man who banished him. He hurt his uncle and his father was... proud of him? But was his father's approval even worth it?

His father said he was proud of him for hurting and betraying his uncle. Long ago, he wouldn't have given his uncle a second glance if it made his father happy, but now…

Zuko turned his gaze from the sleeping city to the lake that lay beneath his balcony. He watched the surface of the water as it sparkled in the moonlight.

"_I thought you changed!"_

Zuko shook his head of such thoughts. He didn't care what the waterbender thought of him. Zuko had restrained himself from not attacking her in that cave, no matter how much she yelled at him. He thought that in itself was proof enough that he was different than before.

"I _have_ changed…" The prince of the Fire Nation whispered into the night. He turned his back against the city and walked out of his room. He needed to take a walk.

* * *

Iroh and Katara slowly made their way up the stairs. Getting Iroh out of his cell was simple enough (it was probably the simplest thing she had done all night). After getting his word that he would teach firebending to Aang, Katara used her waterbending to slice the bars on the cell and the shackles on Iroh's wrists and ankles. They were on their way back to find the Earth King when they heard commotion coming from the hallway on their left. They heard shouting and a bear growling in rage. Katara gasped and ran in the direction of the noise.

Katara and Iroh stopped in front of an odd looking scene. There were several Dai Li all stuffed into a metal box with the Earth King and his bear sitting on top of it.

Katara stared in amazement. "Wow your Highness…," She said as he and Bosco jumped down. "I didn't know you could earthbend…,"

"Well, you never asked. Isn't that right Bosco?" He smiled and petted his bear who groaned in reply.

Katara was still trying to figure out where the king found that metal and why he didn't mention that could earthbend _before_ when they heard more Dai Li agents coming their way.

Iroh pulled Katara and the king into the dressing room. "We need to hide!"

When they entered the room, the king simply grabbed some fabric from one rack and handed it to Katara and Iroh. They looked at the clothing and back at the Earth King as he pulled a fake duck beak and platypus tail onto Bosco. He himself put on his disguise. He frowned when they didn't move.

"Well? Do you want to get caught?"

Katara looked from the king and back to Iroh. She sighed and pulled the dress over her head. Katara unpinned her hair and let it fall and then grabbed a fan and hid her most of her face with it. Perfect disguise.

"Does this dress make me look fat to you?" Katara heard Iroh say.

Katara whirled around began to laugh. There Iroh was in a beautiful pink dress with frills and lace and a lot of sparkling things.

The king laughed nervously. "I guess I must have grabbed the wrong one. Sorry," He said grabbing another set of clothes. "Here, try these-"

The yelling had grown louder. The Dai Li were nearing on their location.

"No time! Let's go!" Katara said grabbing another fan and running out into the hallway. She shoved the fan in Iroh's face and pulled a headdress over his head. They quickly walked away from the scene, just missing the Dai Li.

They all sighed in relief and began to walk toward the exit. Many Dai Li agents passed them without giving them a second glance, and they heard the Dai Li talking about the missing prisoner.

Katara said a prayed for the poor soul who had to deliver the bad news to Azula.

The group froze when an agent singled them out.

"You three! And the platypus bear! Halt!" A Dai Li agent shouted at them.

The man that stopped them was very old; Katara told a little too old to be earthbending. He looked at the Earht King, being the only maled dressed, and demanded reasons as to why they were there.

The Earth King stuttered and was thankful that his headdress hid his mouth. He knew the Dai Li would instantly recongize him as their ex-king. "W-well, uh...We had heard the commotion and..." The King was having trouble thinking of a lie, but it seemed it didn't matter anymore. The old man's gazed was no longer on the king, but instead of Iroh. The man cut the king off and raised his eyebrows in a flirtatious manner towards Iroh.

"Why hello there... Such a beautiful flower you are." The gaurd asked Iroh as he kissed his hand, "Madam, may I ask to be graced with your name?"

Iroh giggled in a girlish laugh. "Oh it's I...Roia. Yes, Iroia. Pleased to meet you." He said with a high pitched voice.

_Oh gods..._

* * *

Zuko ran through the hallways of the huge palace trying to find a way out of the place.

"I'm such an idiot. Of course Azula lied! She always lies!" Zuko yelled at himself as he sprinted through the hallways.

After gazing out onto the city, Zuko left his room to find the kitchen for something to eat when he found himself outside his sister's door. There was yelling (obviously from his sister) and the sounds of someone throwing things (most likely from Azula too). His uncle's name caught his attention.

"What do you _mean_ Iroh's gone?! Can't you do _any_thing right you idiot!" Zuko found putting his ear to the door was going to eventually give him a headache.

"W-we're sorry your highness! He just disappeared! We have no idea where-"The target of Azula's wrath was cut off by Azula herself.

"My stupid brother is still loyal to our uncle. We NEED Iroh otherwise Zuzu won't stay long enough for my father to be rid of him! That's the whole reason he's coming to Ba Sing Se!" Azula screamed so unlike her usual calm demeanor.

Zuko stumbled from the door and began to run in the direction he assumed was the exit.

"I'm such a fool! How could I believe her? I need to fix this somehow."

Zuko stopped in front of the entrance of the palace when he heard a familiar voice in the distance. He hid behind a large vase and spotted the last person he wanted to see.

The waterbender.

_

* * *

After they got rid of the guard that was ogling Iroh, they sprinted toward exit and ditched their disguises on the floor. Bosco suddenly stopped and began to sniff at the ground._

"BOSCO!! Let's go!!" Katara yelled at the bear while the Earth King tried to haul Bosco away, but the bear weighted too much. Iroh tried to lift him, but he ended up hurting himself.

Iroh called to Katara. "Just go get the bison, we'll catch up!"

Katara nodded and ran for the doors that led to freedom when someone stepped in her way. She ran into him, but he grabbed her wrists before she fell. She looked up and froze.

"Zuko!" Katara gasped.

"Missed me?" Zuko said with a smirk.

Katara scoffed and pulled free. "Hardly."

Katara summoned her water and threw it at him. He ducked and fired a wave of fire blasts at her, but she drenched them. Katara threw sharp shards of ice at him. He dodged almost everyone, but the last one cut his cheek. While he was distracted, she threw a huge chunk of ice at him and it hit him in the chest. While the wind was knocked out of him, she pulled out the bison whistle and blew it as hard as she could. Katara turned and saw the Earth King carrying his bear on a huge piece of stone and headed their way.

Zuko looked up just in time to meet his uncle's glance. Time froze as he stared into the hurt eyes of his uncle. Before he knew it, they were out of the palace. He got up and ran outside in time to see them take off.

Zuko shouted into the night something that he wanted to say to his uncle ever since he left that cave.

"UNCLE!! I'M SORRY!" Zuko didn't know if his uncle heard him, but he was going to make absolutely sure that he did.

Zuko was known for making stupid and rash decisions on the spot, but there was no doubt in his mind now. Zuko knew what he wanted now.

Zuko wanted a second chance.

End of Chapter 2

* * *

Yay! chapter 2 done!!

I have to give credit for the idea that the earth king bending metal and the scene with Iroh and the guard flirting to my friend Gordo aka SenicOrinite aka my account's previous owner until he gave it to me. Go Gordo! Yay!

Next chapter: All about Aang, Toph, and Sokka...and possibly even the Cabbage Man...

The Guru tells Aang some important news, Toph discovers a new friend, and Sokka needs to create an army.


	3. EXPLOSIVE DIARRHEA!

Sorry for the delay everybody, I had a dumb civics project to do grumble grumble

But anyhoot, chap three is done. It takes place about a week before Katara saved Iroh and is Aang, Toph, and Sokka's story.

Oh yea I forget this for the last chapter: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender, cause if I did (insert comical phrase here)

* * *

One week ago…

Aang sat on a bundle of hay as he stared at the stars in the night sky. Only a week had gone by since the incident in Ba Sing Se, but he was still recovering from the wounds Azula gave him. He really wished he could have gone with Katara to help her rescue Iroh, but Katara insisted that he was still too hurt to be traveling and was to stay at the Eastern Air temple until they returned. Aang's group, excluding him and Toph, had left earlier that morning; Katara, the Earth King, and Bosco were going to save Iroh after they dropped Sokka off with his father. Sokka was going to help his father plan the next step they would take against the Fire Nation. Aang knew Katara was putting herself in danger to rescue Iroh, and it ate away at him every time he thought of her.

Katara

"_I'm sorry Katara…"_

Aang sighed. The fact was that Aang had responsibilities as the avatar and therefore he couldn't have earthly attachments.

But Aang loved her…

Aang shook his head. No! He had let her go. He couldn't let himself feel anything towards her ever again. Except friendship of course, and the more Aang thought about it, the more he actually liked the idea of just being Katara's friend. Not that he would stop loving her anytime soon, but not having to try to impress her all the time, not having the feeling of jealousy when other guys looked at her in any way, shape, or form, made the whole world a bit simpler. It made him smile that he didn't have to be another person around Katara anymore. Being "just friends" meant that you could make all the bodily noises you wanted and you didn't have to worry about offending your crush. He knew he would always love Katara, but this love didn't make him feel so pressured.

Aang's smile slowly faded when he thought of the _real_ reason he couldn't sleep that night. Not only did being wounded mean he couldn't travel on Appa until he was healed, but it also meant no bending whatsoever. Katara stressed that a lot.

So, of course, right after his friends left on Appa, Aang did a little airbending and it made him happy. But as he looked at the water before he tried to bend it, he felt a sort of…missing piece of himself. He hadn't tried any earth or waterbending that whole day in fear of what he suspected was true. When ever he waterbended, he felt a certain peace about him, like he was one with the rhythm of the push and pull of the ocean, and whenever he earthbended, he felt like he could lift the world off its axis, but now…

Aang gazed into his hand in fear.

Something bad had happened to him the night Azula struck him, he just wasn't sure if he could face reality if it would ever hit him.

* * *

Toph rolled over in a fit of restlessness.

Stupid Aang, not falling asleep. Toph was tired, but she would be damned before she falls asleep without hearing the rhythm of Aang's sleeping, beating heart.

There weren't many things in the world Toph was afraid of. Swimming and flying were just about the only two things that were on her list of fears before Ba Sing Se

The thing that had scared her most of all wasn't Azula, her brother, or the hundreds of Dai Li threatening to kill her. Toph had faced worse than that. The person that scared her the most was Aang. No, she was not afraid of Aang, she was afraid of the thing Katara had been carrying in her arms when she waterbended her self out of the hole in the ground. The thing Katara handed to Toph so she could get on, the lack of noise and _life_ that she had been holding in her arms. The thing that felt so much like Aang when she handed it back to Katara.

It had scared her beyond anything she's ever gone through in the short twelve years Toph's been on earth that she was not able to find the familiar heartbeat of a certain airbender.

Toph shook her head. Aang was okay, he was in the other room next to hers. He wasn't dead, he wasn't in any mortal danger, and most of all, she could hear his heartbeat, steady and strong as usual. Everything was going okay at the moment.

Well, more or less okay, anyway…

* * *

Appa flew to the cliffs that hid his father and his men from Fire Nation eyes. The men of the small tribe were repairing their tents and boats from the last battle they had with a small fleet of Fire Nation ships. Thankfully the Water Tribe men managed to overcome the ships with the small amount of waterbenders they had within their tribe. Sokka jumped off Appa onto the pathway that lead to his father and waved goodbye to his sister.

"Are you sure you're going to be alright Katara? Cause you know you don't have to do this! I mean Aang doesn't necessarily _need_ to master firebending! We could invent a new type of bending!" Sokka said pleadingly, "How about foodbending huh? I'm sure Aang could wip up some good stewed sea prunes!"

Katara stared blankly at him from her spot on Appa's head. "Can Aang defeat the Fire Lord with stewed sea prunes Sokka?"

Sokka thought for a second. "…Well, Aang could give him indigestion or explosive diarrhea!" He said crossing his arms, daring his sister to deny him the greatness of stewed sea prunes in mortal combat. "And how is Aang going to defeat the _Fire_ Lord with _fire_bending huh?! I mean, what if you get captured? Would it be worth it just so Aang can learn to play with fire?" Sokka looked at his sister with concern in his eyes.

Katara sighed and jumped off Appa. She walked to brother and hugged him. "Sokka, everything will be fine. This is part of Aang's duty as the avatar. We can't just deny him that."

Sokka's gaze softened and he returned his sister's embrace. Before Katara left to find the "Angry Jerk's" uncle, he yelled for the Earth King and his bear to watch over his sister. Sokka watched as his sister flew away and wiped his eyes with Momo's tail.

"Come on Momo, let's go," Momo chirped and wiped his tail on the back of Sokka's shirt without him noticing.

Sokka walked down the familiar path to his father's tent. He smiled at the older member's of his tribe and knew this time he was going to stay by his father's side…

* * *

"What do you _mean_ I have to go?!" Sokka slammed his fists on the table before his father.

His father sighed and put his hand on his son's shoulder. "Sokka I know you want to stay here, but I have an important mission for you. I need you to go and recruit as many soldiers as you can for the attack on the Fire Nation Capital," Hakoda dropped his hand and walked over to a map of their world posted to a wall. "We are only one small fleet here, and with Ba Sing Se's forces down, the chances of winning without a plan are very small."

"…" Sokka stared at the floor in silence.

Hakoda stood opposite of his son, not speaking another word.

Sokka smiled and looked at his dad. "Where do I start?"

Hakoda smiled and patted Sokka on the back. "Well, do you know of any soldiers?"

Sokka thought for a second before a certain Kyoshi warrior's face flashed in his mind. "Suki!" He yelled out.

Hakoda gave him a questionable stare. "Who's Suki?"

Sokka blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "She's a female warrior from an island called Kyoshi. She and her team are some great fighters. I know they'll be more than happy to join this fight!"

Hakoda smiled at his son. "Okay then, you will start with the Kyoshi warriors. Sokka, this is an important and possibly dangerous task, so three of my greatest fighters will go with you."

"Okay dad, I'll make you proud," Sokka said to his father before he left the tent.

Hakoda smiled sadly. "I'm already proud of you son…" He said to the silence of the tent.

* * *

Yayness!! I know the whole "I'm already proud of you" moment happened, but I don't care.

Cookies go out to those who can guess what's Aang so afraid of.


End file.
